Representatives from about 70 countries began meeting in Johannesburg on Monday to discuss implementation of a plan to ban the trade in illicit ”blood diamonds” from war zones, organisers said.
They will also consider a report from British-based non-governmental organisation Global Witness, which charges that the al-Qaeda network infiltrated diamond trading networks to raise funds for its operatives and launder money.
The report, ”For a Few Dollars More, How al-Qaeda moved into the diamond trade,” presents information showing how two senior al-Qaeda operatives based in Kenya and Tanzania from 1993 established diamond mining and trading companies to raise funds, the organisation said in a statement.
”Blood diamonds”, defined as rough diamonds obtained by using or threatening to use coercion or military force, are exploited by many rebel movements to finance their activities, mainly in mineral-rich Africa.
After the 1998 bombing of the US embassies in those countries, Global Witness said, three other al-Qaeda operatives gained access to the illicit diamond trade in Sierra Leone, then controlled by the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front in that country.
”The report shows how the corrupt regime of President Charles Taylor of Liberia facilitated access for al-Qaeda operatives into Sierra Leone and Liberia in exchange for diamonds and weapons,” Global Witness said.
”It also presents evidence to show how al-Qaeda took advantage of the same illicit diamond trading structures being utilised by Lebanese terror group Hezbullah.”
”We hope that with this session, we will be able to come to a conclusive decision regarding the implementation of the certification scheme and what steps need to be taken to ensure full compliance by all participating countries,” said Kimberley Process chairman Abbey Chikane.
The so-called Kimberley Process is an international certification system aimed at stemming the trade in blood diamonds.
The goal of the new system is to determine a diamond’s origin when it passes through customs.
Any rough diamond entering or leaving a country taking part in the scheme would have to be transported in a sealed container and accompanied by a certificate of origin.
According to the European Union Commission, blood diamonds represent between two and four percent of global diamond production.- Sapa-AFP